Chapter 7: Horcrux
"Your breakfast, Master Harry Potter." Kreacher croaked out as he laid out a large spread on the kitchen table.
It seems like today will be a French-style spread; as steaming hot basket of croissants with strawberry, grape, and peach jams laid about. Pain Perdu (French toast) right off the stove were stacked up high together in a heap on a large platter with butter, berries, and syrup topping it all off.
Sweet Pain aux raisins were set to the side for later. Coffee, tea, orange juice, apple juice, milk, and Oeufs cocotte were served up for drinks. An edible flower vast fruit basket was set right in the middle of the table with fresh picking of strawberries, cherries, grapes, watermelon, pineapple, kiwi, and other sliced up fruits.
It seems like Kreacher has outdone himself just like always. Before Harry had no idea that the old house-elf was an exquisite chef. After that incident in the hallway, Kreacher has been making him breakfast, lunch, and dinner ever since.
At first, Harry thought that the little bugger was trying to get back at him by poisoning him, but as soon as he saw Sirius helping himself to the food, he knew that could not be true. A house-elf could never harm its master intentionally, the magic binding it stops that automatically from happening.
"Master," Kreacher called out in his hoarse voice, "Would you wish to move to the family's main dining hall or even its side hall? The terrace would also be lovely today as the sun is about to rise over the horizon."
"It is alright, Kreacher." Harry said with a wave as he sat himself at the kitchen table.
"But Master," Kreacher croacked, "This lowly place isn't fit for you, this table is simply the preparation table for large feast and parties."
"I don't mind." Harry said with a shrug while he filled his plate with food and took a few bites from the fruit basket. Harry knew that this house was very large and quite easy to get lost in; there were endless hallways that stretched continuously, numerous different rooms with a variety of purposes some practical and others quite strange. There were also windows in this house that look out nowhere and everywhere, stairs that went up forever, leading off to an infinite amount of floors. Harry knew that there was some sort of expansion magic at work that continued to grow the house.
Just as Kreacher was about to citate from another angle, Sirius walked into the kitchen. "Hey pup." the older wizard called out between a yawn as he poured himself some coffee.
"Hey" Harry replied through a mouthful of the wonderful Pain Perdu as syrup stained his lips.
Right when Sirius was about to grab himself some food, Kreacher moved in and slapped the older wizard's hand away. "The breakfast is for Master Harry Potter, not for you—you're a dishonor of the family!"
"Ow, come on," Sirius shouted as he waved his hands in the air, "Are we going to have this argument every single damn morning, you miserable sod? Anyway, am I your master or is it my godson?!"
"Kreacher," Harry called out, before this argument got out of hand "Let my godfather eat, please."
Turning to face the young wizard the old house elf nodded his head in assent and replied, "Of course Master Harry Potter, you are too kind to this shame of House Black," the house elf pocked ridicule at Sirius to which the older wizard growled in a threatening stance.
Somehow ignoring the hardened wizard who was barring his teeth at him, the house-elf inquired, "Is there anything else you would need?"
"No," Harry said with a shake of his head, "This spread is perfect like always, thank you Kreacher."
"You are most welcome Master." the house elf replied as he bowed low then disappeared in a puff of black misty ash.
"How did you do it?" Sirius asked in a mild tone as he once again reached for the food and started piling it on his plate.
"I do not know," Harry replied honestly. He really had no idea how he got the house-elf to be so obedient and dutiful towards him. "Maybe I earned its respect by not insulting it at every turn, and showing it a bit of kindness," Harry remarked as he gave Sirius a pointed look.
Snorting out loud at Harry's observation, Sirius uttered, "The only thing that creature respects is power and fear, you can forget all the good of heart nonsense."
As Sirius delivered those words he thought about the hallway incident and he did show a bit of power, accidental it might be and Kreacher was fearful of him, he could clearly see it in his eyes. So is that why the old house elf was so obedient towards him, he showed it its place?
Harry did not even want to think under those lines, thus shaking off Sirius's words, Harry put it behind him and tried to get back to brighter stuff. "Well whatever it is, Kreacher does make an excellent spread, and you did say he is fixing up the house and turning the old Wards back on."
"I guess your right," Sirius stated with a nod as he took a bit of his croissant, "And I also think that I can be kinder to Kreacher."
"Good." Harry said with a nod, at least something morally uplifting was coming from all this.
Losing his appetite as those dark thoughts plagued him, Harry got up and said to Sirius, "Well I am going to hit the stacks."
"Are you not going to finish up?" Sirius posed as he pointed to Harry's half incomplete plate.
"Yea, I'm kind of full already so I’ll just be leaving."
"Okay." Sirius said with a shrug taking his words at face value.
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Today Harry was reading about the Wizarding families ranking in Magical Britain. Just because a House has the title of Most Noble and Ancient House does not mean they are of equal ranking. It seems like Magical Britain use the same nobility ranking as regular Britain and that does make sense since Wizarding families have hereditary titles under great old Britain.
As Harry was getting to know about the structure that Wizarding families have in place, a rasping voice interrupted his reading.
"Master Harry Potter, Sir," Kreacher called out.
Turning to face the house elf who had a platter in his hand, Harry addressed him, "Yes, Kreacher?"
"I brought over some light snacks for Master Harry Potter while he is doing his reading."
"Oh, thank you, Kreacher," Harry said then welcoming over the house elf he added, "Just set them over here, I will get to them later."
"Of course Master Harry Potter." the elderly house-elf said as he got to setting up a few servings of tiny pastries like Yorkshire pudding, lemon tarts, chocolate shortbread, and coffee, tea, and milk.
"Thank You," Harry uttered once again as the old house finished placing the food, bowing lowly the magical creature was about to head out, but Harry couldn't help but call out "Kreacher why are you so loyal towards me, huh?"
Already Harry was cursing himself for asking the dreaded question, he knew deep down ignorance was best but for some god damn reason he carried on. "When we first met, you and I were not close, really you were not good to me at all. So what brought about this change of heart?"
"Master Harry Potter is powerful," the old house-elf croaked out. "Master Harry Potter knows how to treat a house elf well, Master Harry Potter is from an old, powerful family, Master Harry Potter is a perfect master," the house elf continued as his voice rouse in fanaticism. "Kreacher must follow. Mistress will be proud of Kreacher for finding a strong master."
Staring at the extremely unstable elf, Harry silently closed his eyes then opening them back up, he uttered in vacant tone, "Thank you, Kreacher. You can leave."
Sitting back in his chair Harry didn't even watch as the house-elf made the pleasant farewells, all he did was sit there vacantly, not moving even an inch for what felt like countless hours.
"Harry" somebody called out from so far away.
Turning to face where he thought the voice came from, Tonks came into view and Harry didn't overreact at all. "Hey Tonks." Harry said as he did his best to collect himself.
"What's wrong, Harry?" the spunky witch asked as a look of concern crossed her face, "I have been calling you for almost a minute!"
"Nothing," Harry said as he did not want to worry the witch with his own issues, "Nothing is wrong at all."
"Oh, I can tell when something is wrong," the young spirited witch said as she sat her sharply ass in the table before him. "Look you haven't even eaten your food," she pointed out.
Seeing that the witch before him wasn't going to leave it at that, Harry rubbed at the bridge of his nose and voiced. "If I tell you, would you just leave it at that?"
"Mhm," the plucky witch said as she thought it over for a moment, "Well it all depends what you have to share really!"
Sighing out loud, Harry just got into the heart of it, since no matter what you did you can not please witches.
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"So let me get this right," Tonks stated, "that grumpy house-elf started worshiping you when you pushed him against the wall and choked him with your magic."
"Yea," Harry said with a nod, "That is basically it."
Then suddenly right before his eyes Tonks broke into laughter, and it wasn't quiet fits, but loud uproarious ones where she slapped her thighs and tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.
"What do you find so funny?" Harry asked as he was a bit aggrieved with her uncalled for reaction.
"Ahh, you are so cute when you are angry," Tonks said as she poked his checks, ignoring the looks fuming he was giving her. Then collecting herself, she voiced in a much more serious tone, "Anyways, why do you care what he thinks?"
"Did you not hear what he said," Harry nearly shouted, "I am the perfect master, I am... I am a Malfoy, a bigot, arrogant, ass."
"Are you any of that stuff?" Tonks put forth in a simple manner.
"No, but..."
"NO but," Tonks cut him off with, "You are or you aren't. It is that simple, okay."
Nodding his head, Harry uttered in a more confident tone, "I am not."
"Good," Tonks uttered as she played with Harry's hair to which he brightened up a bit. Not noticing the awkward situation that she put him in, the spunky witch continued, "Also do not listen to Kreacher, he is a ancient house elf that has long been shaped by Great-Aunt Walburga and she was a mean bitch."
Pausing to face the younger wizard, the young gallant witch spread her hands wide open and declared. "Alright come here to your older cousin and let her take all your boo-boos away."
"Hey." Harry shouted feeling indignant with the way he was being treated. However, before he could do anything the young spirited witch took him into her chest and wrapped her hands around him.
"It is going to be alright," the soon to be Auror sung as she rocked Harry from side to side, "Just let your older cousin take all your pain away."
"Mmmm," Harry sighed from within Tonks's wonderful breasts. It felt like he was both in heaven and hell at the same time as he felt those gorgeous breasts wrap around him though at the same time he was suffocating and losing oxygen.
Finally Tonks let him go and he experienced an unusual feeling as he was both glad to be breathing in and out plus saddened by the loss of her arms around him.
"So do you feel better now little cousin?" the young witch posed in a teasing manner.
"Can you please stop treating me like a little child?" Harry replied in a pleading tone. All he wanted was for her to see him as a love interest and being seen as a child wasn't helping his case.
Pinching his cheeks, Tonks teased, "Oh does our little man see himself as an all grown up adult!"
"Yes." He grated out after all he has been through if he isn't an adult then he did not know what he was because a child sure as hell couldn't have led his life.
"Prove it." Tonks dared him as she continued playing with his cheeks.
Not knowing what came over him, Harry was up from his seat and towering over the seated witch then went for her lips.
He did not know how many countless times he fantasized about capturing her full lips, but now that he did it was so much better than whatever he imagined. He could already smell the oceanic scents coming off her as he was so close to her and brushing his lips against her. Harry basked in the full scent of her and took it all in as he fully smooched her lips.
The spunky witch that was teasing him just moments before stood frozen there, shell shocked by his actions, and Harry took great advantage of it. Having enough fun snogging those luscious lips, Harry reached out with his tongue and crossed the bridge gates that was her teeth then into her mouth.
Touched upon an unmoving piece of soft flesh-- Harry enclosed his own tongue around it and gave it a long, sensitive swirl. Wanting to find a bit more stimulates, Harry grasped those breathtaking orbs he had his eyes on for countless days and gave them a tight squeeze.
Moaning underneath the deep kiss, Tonks's eyes lidded close, and just as she was finding enjoyment in his ministrations Harry slowed his tongue action. Suddenly withdrawing both his hands from kneading her breasts but not before he gave her hard nipples a firm pinch, he stepped back and also removed his tongue followed by a thin line of saliva.
Groaning at the loss of both his tongue and hands, Harry came close to the shape-shifting witch ears until she could feel his hot breaths upon them and whispered, "Tell me, was that the kiss of a little boy?"
Before Tonks could even get a chance to reply, Sirius's voice echoed from the stacks. "Harry," the older man shouted as he made his way to where he was.
Tonks hurried to rearrange her clothes but there was not out of place so it was only done in mindless panic.
Though to be honest, she wasn't the only one panicking, one question kept on playing inside of Harry's head, why did he do it? If there was anyone to blame it had to be Sirius, he was the one that put all this junk in his head, but to be honest it was paying off.
For the first time, Tonks was flustered and blushing like a pure maiden that Harry nearly chortled. Plus from the side long looks she was giving him, things were really progressing along.
"Hey, Sirius," Harry called out once the older wizard came into sight. "What's up?" he asked in his most calm and collected voice.
"I finally found an answer about your scar!"
Doing a double take, Harry goggles up at the man in surprise. He knew that Sirius was looking high and low for answers about his lightning scar and he was thankful for that, but his situation seemed so unusual and one of kind he never thought answers would be found, it seemed like Sirius proved him wrong.
"What did you find?" Harry questioned as he was all attention now and listening up closely.
"I will need Dromeda to double check but I think you have a Horcrux in your scar."
"A what now?" Harry asked, having no clue what his godfather was talking about.
"A Horcrux is an object that contains a piece of a soul, thus even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged," Tonks interjected in a voice barely above a whisper.
"How the hell do you know that," Sirius asked as a look of surprise crossed his face, "That is not common knowledge."
"Lets just say I've dealt with my fair share of cursed objects in my time at Hogwarts and I had a curse breaker for Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Taking her vague answer as it is, Sirius proceeded on, "What little Tonks over there said is right."
"Hey, I am not little." Tonks shouted from the side to which Harry found immense satisfaction, if things weren't so serious he would have been smiling from ear to ear.
Ignoring the young witch, Sirius just trudged on, "I think we know who it belongs to."
"Yea," Harry said as a grim look plastered his face. Even if he somehow killed Voldemort which there was no denying he would, the ass hat would still remain alive since Harry was alive. Then as if connecting a few dots, Harry finally realized what that old meddling fool was up to, he wanted both him and Voldemort to take each other out.
"Do you know the worst part," Tonks said with a sad and disgusted shake of her head, "How they are created. You have to kill an innocent soul then cannibalize."
"How could he do that-- that sick fuck," Harry asked in pure revulsion of the dark wizard.
"Well," Sirius said, "There is no need for all the doom and gloom. I didn't come here with that piece of information, I found that a long time ago. No, I found a way to safely remove and destroy the Horcrux."